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The Cycling Association of Kodiak
Island held its annual Kodiak Coastal Centurion bike ride last weekend to help
raise funds for one Kodiak resident, afflicted with an inherited disease that
has no known cure. Mary Donaldson has more.

The 100-mile bike ride began bright
and early Saturday morning, and covered almost every inch of the paved roads on
Kodiak Island. The 2008 ride raised funds for
20-year-old Sean Roberson, who was diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia in 2004.
FA is an inherited disease which causes progressive damage to the nervous
system and has no known cure. His cause is to promote awareness and research
funds for this disorder, and this bike ride raised funds to help him achieve
his goal.

This year Roberson purchased a
unique bicycle, a Trice-Q, to accommodate him for the ride, which he will also
use to participate in the annual Ride Ataxia, which will have him cycling from Sacramento, California to
Seattle, Washington
next spring. Roberson says the bike ride in town is part of his endurance
training in his preparation for the Ride Ataxia event down in the states.

(Roberson 1:24s“…the next 10 months.”)

Roberson was able to complete 92 of
the 100 miles on Saturday in about 11 hours, well above his training goals.

Jennifer Eubanks was one of the
event organizers and says the Kodiak ride consisted of two teams with nine or
more participants on each team, giving the ride 27 total participants. The race
began and ended at Harborside’s Fly-by shop on Mill Bay Road.

Eubanks
says registration for the race brought in just over one-thousand dollars in
donations in funding for Roberson’s future trip. Donations to help the Roberson’s
pay for his bike, or to donate to his upcoming trip can be made at any Wells
Fargo Bank in Kodiak. The Roberson family is also in need of airline miles,
which can be donated at US Travel.